Technical installations generally include a number of components, which for example either each realize a specific function of the technical installation or together perform a certain function.
An example of a technical installation in which components with different functions act together is, for example, a power plant for generating electrical energy. To be able to generate electrical energy in a technical installation of this type, interaction between numerous components each with a different task is necessary.
Some of these components may include turbines, generators, protective systems and control systems. Efficient operation of a technical installation of this type is possible if use of the components mentioned is coordinated.
In modern technical installations, interaction between the components of the technical installation is usually coordinated and monitored by a computer-aided control system. The degree of automation is in this case often very high, so that human intervention in the operation of the technical installation is only necessary if the automatic control has to deal with a current operating state of the technical installation for which no solution or procedure is provided in the control programs of the control system. This may for example include incidents which could not be taken into account in every detail when the control system was designed, but also operational transitions during operation of the technical installation that in themselves are simple, from a human viewpoint, but which often can only be reproduced as technical control-related programs with considerable effort. This may be the case, for example, whenever a large number of possible operating states can occur during the operation of the technical installation and it is intended to be possible to achieve a desired operating state from each of these operating states.
A control program would then have to contain for each of these possible operating states associated control instructions to go to the desired operating state. The recording of all possible operating states of a technical installation in a control program is often not possible in advance, so that in some cases the operating personnel of the technical installation have to take over operating the components of the technical installation manually.
In the case of a technical installation in which a number of components act together to perform a certain function, the previously described problems are similar. An example of a technical installation of this type is a combustion installation for generating electrical energy, which includes a number of burners arranged in a combustion chamber. Use of the burners is in this case to take place in such a way that the fuel supplied is used as efficiently as possible, in order to generate a required amount of electrical energy and to operate the installation economically. Furthermore, conservative operation of an installation of this type is also a desired objective, which can be achieved for example by uniform distribution of the burning in the combustion chamber.
To use the fuel supplied as efficiently as possible, it is necessary, in particular when starting up and shutting down the technical installation and in part-load operation, that is when the maximum possible amount of electrical energy that can be generated by the combustion installation is not being demanded and not all the burners are firing simultaneously, to switch the burners on or off selectively in such a way that the most uniform possible distribution of burning in the combustion chamber is ensured at each point in time of the operation of the technical installation.
Practical operation of many power plants shows that, for example in the case of the solution to the aforementioned problem of uniform distribution of burning in a combustion chamber, automatic switching on and off of the main burners is often relinquished, since the logic or step controllers usually used for accomplishing such tasks can only be realized with very great effort. Additionally, the control programs that can be used for such purposes may be very complicated. The reason for the great amount of effort is that, when operating a combustion installation with a number of burners, virtually every operating state between no load and full load, including the associated starting-up and shutting-down procedures, may be applicable. A control program would then have to be able to execute corresponding control instructions for each of these numerous operating states to ensure efficient operation of the technical installation.
To avoid at least partly the problem described of great effort being expended, logic and step controllers, in which corresponding control commands are provided only for a subset of all the possible operating states, are in use in many power plants. By this deliberate restriction to defined operating cases, such controllers are less flexible and human intervention continues to be necessary for all those operating cases for which no control commands are provided in the controllers.
In order to solve the problem of uniform distribution of the burning in a combustion chamber of a combustion installation, also conceivable are solutions in which additional measuring devices are provided, for example for measuring the temperature profile in the combustion chamber, in order then to evaluate these measurements and consequently control use of the burners.
A disadvantage of this is that additional devices, such as the measuring devices for determining the temperature profile, are necessary. Furthermore, these additional measurements have to be evaluated, in order to derive from them control commands for use of the burners. The additional effort is in this case is often considerable. Moreover, the adding of additional measuring devices imposes sources of problems on the technical installation, which in the event that they do not function can lead to the technical installation shutting down.